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Forum stats link?

Started by 20160805, April 24, 2018, 07:53:24 PM

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20160805

I seem to recall, toward the bottom of the forum home page, a link to an extra stats page, on which you could view things such as users with the most posts, boards with the most posts, longest threads, etc., in addition to total numbers of new posts, threads, members, and page views broken down by year or, upon expansion, by month.

However, I scrolled down to the bottom of the forum home page tonight and didn't see that link there.  Does anybody know where that page went or even if it still exists?  I'd be pretty sad if it did go away, being the statistic geek I am and all.

Thank you for any and all information.
Left for 5 months Oct 2018-Mar 2019 due to arguing in the DST thread.
Tried coming back Mar 2019.
Left again Jul 2019 due to more arguing.


webny99

I take full responsibility for it's disappearance.
I also realized that I overstepped (with starting too many stats threads) and took full responsibility for changing my behavior in order to get the page back, but I was unsuccessful in doing this :no:

I would still advocate its reappearance, but I've done all I can personally do, so I wish you luck in convincing the admin team. I still don't think the forum is run as a total monarchy, but the outcome of this could be the ultimate evidence...

hotdogPi

It's here, but you don't have permission to view it.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

oscar

There were concerns -- which I share -- that there was too much discussion about forum stats, which at times degenerated into what another user derided as "biggest penis" contests. All that detracted from discussion about roads, which is what this forum is about. 

The stats are presumably available to the webmaster and maybe the mods, who are the only people who really need to see them so they can better manage this forum.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

Rothman

We're better off without it.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

webny99

Quote from: oscar on April 24, 2018, 08:51:15 PM
All that detracted from discussion about roads

That is a misconception. Period.

Quote from: Rothman on April 24, 2018, 09:46:50 PM
We're better off without it.

Also unproven. And impossible to prove, since stats have been hidden since the episode.

Rothman

Your post in of itself proves that we're better off without it.  Definitely has lessened the nonsense on the forum when there's enough of it already.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

US71

Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 24, 2018, 10:58:56 PM
Your post in of itself proves that we're better off without it.

Without flinging old dirt, how so?

Why is it important to you?
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

webny99

Quote from: US71 on April 24, 2018, 11:07:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 24, 2018, 10:58:56 PM
Your post in of itself proves that we're better off without it.
Without flinging old dirt, how so?
Why is it important to you?

The answer to the question isn't of any particular importance. What irks me, I guess, and what Rothman capitalized on, is my that my inherent involvement in this issue is proving to be a major obstruction as I try to look at it from an unbiased point of view.

What I am particularly interested in (and have been trying to get at) is whether forum user base as a whole believes the stats page should be available. Period.
Leave me (and all my stats threads and whatever else) completely out of the picture, long enough to form an answer to a very basic question: Should the stats page be something that is available to forum users? Two years ago, before I joined, what would your answer have been?

That's the only important question at play in this thread right now, so I'll just shut up for a while and see what everyone has to say.

formulanone

#9
Absolutely nobody is stopping you from recording the post counts from users from popular threads and making your own list. But as you can tell, it's not worth discussing the details of those results on this forum.

It really doesn't bother me one way or another, although posts for the sake of posting to raise one's post count should be discouraged. You don't unlock any bonus features with new statuses, unless one becomes a moderator or takes on some other staff position.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 11:42:31 PM
Quote from: US71 on April 24, 2018, 11:07:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 24, 2018, 10:58:56 PM
Your post in of itself proves that we're better off without it.
Without flinging old dirt, how so?
Why is it important to you?

The answer to the question isn't of any particular importance. What irks me, I guess, and what Rothman capitalized on, is my that my inherent involvement in this issue is proving to be a major obstruction as I try to look at it from an unbiased point of view.

What I am particularly interested in (and have been trying to get at) is whether forum user base as a whole believes the stats page should be available. Period.
Leave me (and all my stats threads and whatever else) completely out of the picture, long enough to form an answer to a very basic question: Should the stats page be something that is available to forum users? Two years ago, before I joined, what would your answer have been?

That's the only important question at play in this thread right now, so I'll just shut up for a while and see what everyone has to say.

Shut the post count off while we're at it.  That was a really watered down period of posting when all the talk about forum stats or post counts.  That's just my two-cents. 

Alps

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 24, 2018, 11:56:25 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 11:42:31 PM
Quote from: US71 on April 24, 2018, 11:07:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 24, 2018, 10:58:56 PM
Your post in of itself proves that we're better off without it.
Without flinging old dirt, how so?
Why is it important to you?

The answer to the question isn't of any particular importance. What irks me, I guess, and what Rothman capitalized on, is my that my inherent involvement in this issue is proving to be a major obstruction as I try to look at it from an unbiased point of view.

What I am particularly interested in (and have been trying to get at) is whether forum user base as a whole believes the stats page should be available. Period.
Leave me (and all my stats threads and whatever else) completely out of the picture, long enough to form an answer to a very basic question: Should the stats page be something that is available to forum users? Two years ago, before I joined, what would your answer have been?

That's the only important question at play in this thread right now, so I'll just shut up for a while and see what everyone has to say.

Shut the post count off while we're at it.  That was a really watered down period of posting when all the talk about forum stats or post counts.  That's just my two-cents. 
I wholeheartedly agree with this. Post count serves nothing except an alternate dick-waving contest.

hotdogPi

Post count is useful to easily determine if a member is an established member or not. 1000 vs 10000 doesn't matter much, but 5 vs 1000 definitely does.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

froggie

#13
^ Quality versus quantity.  There are a number of well-established users on this forum who don't post often (a few with as little as ~100 posts, despite being here for years), but have notable observations or viewpoints.

As for stats, webny99's obsession with stats consumed a chunk of the forum for awhile, and the mods opted to pull the plug on it as a result.  I highly doubt it will come back, and some of the conversation in this thread will only reinforce their viewpoint that pulling stats access was the right thing to do.

Rothman

A proxy for post count is the member joined date.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

MNHighwayMan

Quote from: Rothman on April 25, 2018, 08:19:38 AM
A proxy for post count is the member joined date.

Eh, I'm not sure that's really true: I'd registered more than one and a half years before I eventually made my first post and began contributing to this forum.

Of course, I should probably note that I'm more the exception than the rule...

jeffandnicole

Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 11:42:31 PM
Should the stats page be something that is available to forum users? Two years ago, before I joined, what would your answer have been?

Personally:  2 years ago, I never noticed the stats.  Today, I don't notice the stats (ok, I didn't notice they were gone).  When do I notice them?  When someone creates a post, or multiple posts, about stats, such as that period of time a few months ago.  I don't even really notice my own post count, readily available on everything I post. 

Also, this is what I've noticed about you personally webny99:  Since the stats have gone away, you've actually had many worthwhile contributions to the boards relating to roads and highways.

So while there may be some interest in stats, it's kinda like Fight Club.  The first rule is, you don't talk about the stats.  They're there for your amusement...not for public broadcasting and dissection.

index

#17
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 11:42:31 PM
Quote from: US71 on April 24, 2018, 11:07:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 24, 2018, 10:58:56 PM
Your post in of itself proves that we're better off without it.
Without flinging old dirt, how so?
Why is it important to you?
What I am particularly interested in (and have been trying to get at) is whether forum user base as a whole believes the stats page should be available. Period.


If you want my honest opinion...


I do prefer the stats page as available, I find statistics on things interesting, and I'd rather that it stayed, but in the end it's not that big of a deal. My personal amusement, no threads or anything. I'm not going to fight it or anything. It's really inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It happened so it happened, it happened a while ago, and it's not likely to change anytime soon, so it'd be better that those who wanted it to stay accepted that it's gone.
I love my 2010 Ford Explorer.



Counties traveled

formulanone

#18
Quote from: Alps on April 25, 2018, 12:30:23 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 24, 2018, 11:56:25 PM
Shut the post count off while we're at it.  That was a really watered down period of posting when all the talk about forum stats or post counts.  That's just my two-cents. 
I wholeheartedly agree with this. Post count serves nothing except an alternate dick-waving contest.

But if a mod reduces the number of posts from a user, is it a click-waiving process?

To a narrow extent, post count matters to get a feel for how to deal with a new thread; a user with very few posts asking a road question probably needs more description than a someone with a few more posts. Or whether that off-topic question is from a bot, rather than a real user who just wants to ask something rather unusual.

Face it, you're pulling the trigger on the Parking Lots with 1-5 posts complaining about other users or asking about our favorite gambling websites.

hbelkins

I'm the one who compared all these stats comparisons to a "biggest penis" competition, and I stand by that. There for awhile, people were more consumed with forum stats than actual forum content. There are plenty of road-related stats you can obsess over, as opposed to forum stats.

As for post count, it really doesn't mean anything to me. Quantity over quality, is what it tells me, if you're hung up on the number of posts a particular user makes. Spend enough time here and you can distinguish the Alpses/Froggies/Oscars/US 71s (to name four contributors to this thread who have been long-time participants in various venues who are knowledgeable and respected) from the Marfs and FritzOwls of the world.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

US71

Quote from: formulanone on April 25, 2018, 09:17:31 AM
Quote from: Alps on April 25, 2018, 12:30:23 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 24, 2018, 11:56:25 PM
Shut the post count off while we're at it.  That was a really watered down period of posting when all the talk about forum stats or post counts.  That's just my two-cents. 
I wholeheartedly agree with this. Post count serves nothing except an alternate dick-waving contest.

But if a mod reduces the number of posts from a user, is it a click-waiving process?

To a narrow extent, post count matters to get a feel for how to deal with a new thread; a user with very few posts asking a road question probably needs more description than a someone with a few more posts. Or whether that off-topic question is from a bot, rather than a real user who just wants to ask something rather unusual.

Face it, you're pulling the trigger on the Parking Lots with 1-5 posts complaining about other users or asking about our favorite gambling websites.

If you post it in Off-Topic, you can talk about gambling all you want.  Can you cite examples of Parking Lots we have "pulled the trigger" on (besides Marf)?
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Jim

Given my role in TM, participation in mob-rule for county counting, and the various other lists I keep for myself, I like tracking stats as much as anyone.  But post count on any forum has never been one of those things.  For my post count, without looking it up, the best I could do is guess that it probably has 4 digits.  I see no harm in having post counts and other stats available, but I'm guessing most users won't ever look.

I think most of us who read the forum regularly pretty quickly figure out whose posts are likely to be interesting and informative and whose are not worth wasting even the couple of seconds it takes to look.  As others have pointed out, post counts aren't a good indicator of quality of contributions.
Photos I post are my own unless otherwise noted.
Signs: https://www.teresco.org/pics/signs/
Travel Mapping: https://travelmapping.net/user/?u=terescoj
Counties: http://www.mob-rule.com/user/terescoj
Twitter @JimTeresco (roads, travel, skiing, weather, sports)

jeffandnicole

Quote from: US71 on April 25, 2018, 11:33:22 AM
If you post it in Off-Topic, you can talk about gambling all you want.  Can you cite examples of Parking Lots we have "pulled the trigger" on (besides Marf)?

I was going to mention Alanland, but looking at his stats it was his 6th post, so even that doesn't qualify.

vdeane

Honestly, I didn't even notice the stats page existed until it was mentioned in the very thread that caused it to be disabled.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

adventurernumber1

Quote from: index on April 25, 2018, 09:13:18 AM
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 11:42:31 PM
Quote from: US71 on April 24, 2018, 11:07:01 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 24, 2018, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 24, 2018, 10:58:56 PM
Your post in of itself proves that we're better off without it.
Without flinging old dirt, how so?
Why is it important to you?
What I am particularly interested in (and have been trying to get at) is whether forum user base as a whole believes the stats page should be available. Period.


If you want my honest opinion...


I do prefer the stats page as available, I find statistics on things interesting, and I'd rather that it stayed, but in the end it's not that big of a deal. My personal amusement, no threads or anything. I'm not going to fight it or anything. It's really inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It happened so it happened, it happened a while ago, and it's not likely to change anytime soon, so it'd be better that those who wanted it to stay accepted that it's gone.

I am exactly the same way. I'm not overly concerned with stats, but I do find them interesting, and I would prefer that the stats page were visible. However, it would never influence any decisions I made - it would just be there for me to learn about the statistical "fun facts" about the forum. Since I love this forum so much, I find it interesting to learn these "fun facts" about it. But of course, I am most concerned with roads (although even when the stats stuff was going on, it did not detract from my contributions to roads).

Now regarding post counts, I would prefer they stay as well. Unfortunately, some people use post counts the wrong way, and they try to inflate them. However, most people do not do this. One of the most useful aspects of post counts that comes to my mind is regarding when users create threads. If someone with 5 posts creates a thread that is a duplicate of another, or it may accidentally violate forum rules, there will be much more understanding, because this person probably just joined, and they are just now learning and getting used to the rules and how to do things. Post counts don't always indicate how much someone is an established member, but sometimes they are quite competent with that. My post count (and me knowing it) does not affect my posts themselves at all. However, I like it to be there for reference. I am a fan of cumulative things. It is satisfying and fulfilling for me. This includes stuff like post counts and total time logged in. It means that overtime, contributions and time spent on the forum are adding up into a cumulative interesting statistic. I am in no rush to facilitate the speed of acceleration of these statistics - I post solely on what I want to post and contribute - but that is not affected by these statistics. I, for example, will feel very, very satisfied if I happen to create an extremely long post, and then see my cumulative post count increase by 1. This indicates that it isn't the quantity that matters to me, but the satisfaction of contributing to the forum, and also having a cumulative post count that is visible to me, that slowly increases over time. This liking of cumulative things also involves video games as well. I absolutely love it when a video game has statistics like "total miles driven" or "total time played" or an increasing Level that goes up (ex. Level 5, Level 23, Level 101, etc.). I don't do any unusual or unfavorable actions to drastically, deliberately affect these cumulative statistics. I go about my day and do these things (posting, browsing/reading (which increases "total time logged in"), playing video games) just as normal - not thinking about the statistics at all or purposefully trying to do something significant to them while I am actually posting or playing or whatever - but at the end of the day, it is fun for me to be able to look at my cumulative statistics. I like to have the ability to see these interesting statistics, but I don't obsess over them. It is just a neat but useful (for reference) thing on the side, while the main meal is reserved for roads.  :nod:
Now alternating between different highway shields for my avatar - my previous highway shield avatar for the last few years was US 76.

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